Are we lucky to live in Ireland?

Cill Dara Abu

I've never been abroad. I'd love to go to America someday.

I often get the impression that we are lucky to live here, you see other countrys experiencing extreme weather, poverty, etc...

Just wondering what are the differences people have noticed in Ireland and any other country in terms of the people, attitudes to alcohol and drugs, weather, standard of living, driving habits and any other random thing.

kfallon

Yes - we have a great little country, wouldn't swap it for anything

Where To

Russian girls wear nicer underwear

Chucky the tree

Ireland is a great place to live. Anyone who thinks differently needs to go traveling.

RockinRolla

Chucky the tree wrote: »

Ireland is a great place to live. Anyone who thinks differently needs to go traveling.

I would have thought it was the other way round.

My name is URL

Relatively lucky compared to most countries, imo

squod

Beautiful place. Shame about the criminals running the place and those who vote for them.

Sunnyisland

Not bad, pity the weather isn't better though.More sunshine more smiles.

epgc3fyqirnbsx

Absolutely we are, we dont starve (anymore ), if you are diwn on your luck social welfare really can help you, for all the crime it's still pretty safe, the weather isn't too severe and we have fair city

RockinRolla

squod wrote: »

Beautiful place. Shame about the criminals running the place and those who vote for them.

Agreed.

Some beautiful area's of the country. But we can't rate a country as it's entirely subjective on the part of the individual. It really depends on what your lifestyle and political beliefs are.

Johnny D. Mudd

What I enjoy about this country is the laid-back, friendly and level-headedness of the average Irish person. There is little pretence in public, people aren't as quick to dismiss others and are generally happy to share some small talk even with strangers. I have been in Spain quite a few times and though the country is beautiful and the people incredibly gorgeous, there is a lot of snobbishness. I have seen people I know get into confrontations with a Spaniard because of some percieved slight. Same with some Germans too I'm afraid. I don't see this level of snobbishness too much in Ireland.

Of course I'm not one for generalising and I realise that there are plenty of wonderful Spaniards and Germans out there too.:)

Naikon

Without a shadow of a doubt.

Herb Powell

All things considered it's quite good. Nowhere near perfect, but then again nowhere is, really. Comfortable, is how I'd describe it

RMD

We have a beautiful country with not to many social problems, ruined by a bunch of incompetent pricks running the place.

TheDukeOfEarl

A great bunch of lads.

gcgirl

Some times we whinge and moan about Ireland the only thing id like would be cost of living a little bit cheaper and i wish that people who deal with customers on a face to face basis learn some basic proper customer service and smile a bit more

J. Marston

I'd take Ireland over Ethiopia anyday.

Naikon

For all the bitching, there really is no place similar to ireland elsewhere in the world:p

PseudoFamous

Well, we have little fear of hurricanes, earthquakes, being murdered on your way to the shops, religious persecution, being attacked for your possessions, targeted by criminals, extorted, raped, killed in fatal car accidents, being unable to buy necessities, famine, drought or any other dreadful things compared with most other countries, so I think we're pretty lucky, yes.

who the fug

RMD wrote: »

We have a beautiful country with not to many social problems, ruined by a bunch of incompetent pricks running the place.

elected by the majority, which is why I left:cool:

Rockery Woman

Yes - we are lucky!

I cant imagine living anywhere else

Cill Dara Abu

I think its impossible to become homeless in Ireland unless you are an alcoholic or addicted to drugs otherwise our social welfare will save you.

Hank_Jones

Don't worry, Marge.
America's health care system is second only to Japan,
Canada, Sweden, Great Britain, well, all of Europe,
but you can thank your lucky stars we don't live in Paraguay!


We have a great country really. I know we all complain about it,
but it is structured to looks after residents.
I am very glad that I don't live in a third world country.
That is what I always compare Ireland to and for those reasons I am grateful.

Celly Smunt

i plead anyone to go to Scandinavia and see how far behind we are

orourkeda

There are certain benefits to living here.

Things could be a hell of a lot more.

Dj Stiggie

I'm not living in Ireland at the minute and I couldn't be happier. But at the same time, things could be a lot worse.

It really depends on what you want in life. I'm living in Prague now, earning Czech wages (which are feck all) but I much prefer the lifestyle here. In terms of standard of living, yes Irish people are lucky that there's a good level of health care, high social standards and free education.

But at the same time, if you'd be happier living in Vietnam teaching English or something, I wouldn't say you're missing out at all (I haven't been there, but I imagine its gorgeous). All in all though, being Irish definitely has its advantages

Celly Smunt

Dj Stiggie wrote: »

I'm living in Prague now, earning Czech wages (which are feck all) but I much prefer the lifestyle here.

strongly agree,sometimes Irish people see wages abroad as being terrible without taking into account the cost of living or lifestyle and immediately shake an opportunity of going abroad to a poorer waged country

Zebra3

We are a corrupt, backward sh*thole compared to Norway, but paradise compared to the Congo.

You might as well ask how long is a piece of string.

Cill Dara Abu

Zebra3 wrote: »

We are a corrupt, backward sh*thole compared to Norway, but paradise compared to the Congo.

You might as well ask how long is a piece of string.

How long is a piece of string?

saywhatyousee

Zebra3 wrote: »

We are a corrupt, backward sh*thole compared to Norway, but paradise compared to the Congo.

You might as well ask how long is a piece of string.

Im sure the oil money helped that though.

Fratton Fred

Ireland is a nice place to live op, but it is very small and despite all the recent immigration the population is almost entire white Irish Catholics.

Watching tv and reading t'internet is all well and good, but you do need to leave the island if only to sample other cultures.

I've settled here and I like it, but even Dublin can feel like a village at times.

Celly Smunt

Cill Dara Abu wrote: »

How long is a piece of string?

that phrase doesn't work in the context you were commenting on.

busyliving

Well I'm currently in Australian and can't wait to get back home...

Can't see why everyone raves about here, its expensive, the people aren't nice and the drink is Sh!te

jive

Yes because we have a decent standard of living. I'd rather live here than Africa or Asia and many parts of Europe. North America / Canada / Australia would also be nice places to live imo. The only thing about Ireland is that the weather is a bit shíte although we don't get any extremes which is _kind of_ a good thing. It's a bad thing due to the fact that the whole place shuts down due to a hint of ice because we're totally unprepared for it. It's good because it means we don't have to deal with intolerable conditions

Ev84

Cill Dara Abu wrote: »

How long is a piece of string?

No. He is a Chinese man.

DoesNotCompute

we're a grand auld country, jobs for life for the boys, and if your banking enterprise catastrophically fails, sure the govt will bail you out, while you can feck off scot free

im invisible

Cill Dara Abu wrote: »

How long is a piece of string?

'bout three fiddy

Ev84 wrote: »

No. He is a Chinese man.

how high is his brother(?)

Ev84

im invisible wrote: »

'bout three fiddy

how high is his brother(?)

Yes. I know him well. Nice guy :pac:

HUNK

Well Ireland has the Highest Quality of Life in the world supposedly.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Quality-of-life_index

Wouldn't mind going travelling sometime in the future, but I reckon I always end up back here. Tis my home sweet home.

annascott

If you compare Ireland to a third world country or a scary middle eastern represive place, then yes, we are lucky. Compared to most of Europe, USA, NZ and Oz - we are living in the dark ages, so no.

enfant terrible

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1QRlR0ctjNE

Greentopia

pmcmahon wrote: »

i plead anyone to go to Scandinavia and see how far behind we are

True. I miss some things about Sweden terribly sometimes-the efficiency of the place, how clean and safe it is, low levels of corruption and Govt. incompetence, how socially progressive and egalitarian it is compared to here with the vast majority having a high standard of living not just those at the top of society like here; and what a great country it is to be a woman in, in terms of equality and rights.
And the people are lovely too when you get to know them.

I did miss some things from here though like the warmth and casual friendliness of the people, how easy it is to strike up a conversation, how much less Irish people are fixated on their appearance (though that's not always a good thing :pac:) and our beautiful country side.
Overall I'm happy to be living here and don't think I'd leave again unless I had to. I love this little country of ours, warts and all

MsAmerica

Yes you are very lucky. You have beautiful people there and the positivity and sense of community that I have seen from those that I know there is definitely unique and special. I look forward to my solo trip to Ireland this fall.

----Also, the men there seem to be much better looking than those in the US.

saywhatyousee

annascott wrote: »

Compared to most of Europe, USA, NZ and Oz - we are living in the dark ages, so no.

Elaborate please?Standard of living in Ireland is a least the same if not greater than these places you mentioned?

enfant terrible

saywhatyousee wrote: »

Elaborate please?Standard of living in Ireland is a least the same if not greater than these places you mentioned?

I think she means they have really fast broadband.

The King of Moo

It's all relative really.
Compared to third world countries, we're incredibly lucky to be living in such a country.
Yet compare us to other countries with a similar standard of living to us, and there are some ways in which we're not perfect.

Our general infrastructure has improved, but there's little things like not building services when building the motorway network, or building a national stadium that's too small that are just ridiculous.
Which is all to do with the *adopts Roy Keane voice* acceptance of mediocrity and lack of planning and organisation which is part of our culture, the "ah shure 'til be grand" attitude. Also, compared to other countries like America or France, we're very accepting of corruption and poor planning, or at least not very willing to take action against what we don't like.
Lots of people still seem to have an inferiority complex about the country too, and be very concerned about how we're seen by the "big" countries like America and the U.K, and too concerned about how we look to them, not embarrassing ourselves.
We're also still old-fashioned in many ways. It's not as obvious or as powerful as before, but the unquestioning acceptance of Church authority is still out there. We've only had divorce in this country for 16 years, I think, and it was a fairly tight vote.
And our food, well, spend a week in Italy, France or Spain and try to go back to a feed of boiled spuds with a bit a butter for taste.

Having said that though, on a global scale, it's pretty good to live here. Compared to many countries we're fabulously wealthy with a strong welfare state (though not compared to the Nordic countries), and we speak English.

Greentopia

busyliving wrote: »

Well I'm currently in Australian and can't wait to get back home...

Can't see why everyone raves about here, its expensive, the people aren't nice and the drink is Sh!te

The grass is always greener mentality I guess. Don't see the attraction with Aussie land either. Too many things that want to kill me(!), scorching heat in summer, floods, droughts, cyclones, lacks the rich cultural heritage of Europe, American style car dependence, the beer...

New Zealand on the other hand is a country I'd be more interested in visiting some day. I like the Maori culture and traditions, and it's more temperate climate and greener landscape appeals to me more that the dry arid Australian bush.

Daroxtar

pmcmahon wrote: »

i plead anyone to go to Scandinavia and see how far behind we are

Fúck Scandanavia. 6 months of subzero temperatures, 6 months of constant darkness, Devil worshipers, Death Metal, Vikings, ridiculously high taxes , Shroomed off their tits Reindeers and every lame ass matt cooper/joe duffy contributor saying "Oh, we should look at the Scandanavian way of doing things".
NO!!!
Fúck Scandanavia

Ireland is fúcking lovely.:)

Daroxtar

The King of Moo wrote: »

It's not as obvious or as powerful as before, but the unquestioning acceptance of Church authority is still out there. We've only had divorce in this country for 16 years, I think, and it was a fairly tight vote.

So you don't think we've experienced much change of attitude in the last 16 years? Seriously?

noxqs

Fúck Scandanavia. 6 months of subzero temperatures, 6 months of constant darkness, Devil worshipers, Death Metal, Vikings, ridiculously high taxes , Shroomed off their tits Reindeers and every lame ass matt cooper/joe duffy contributor saying "Oh, we should look at the Scandanavian way of doing things".

Surely there must be bad things about scandinavia too?

Laisurg

As much as i love to bitch about Ireland and being born here it's really not that bad compared to a lot of other countries.